Totally agree; I left high school early (no diploma) so that I could go to college. In high school I hated it, didn't do my homework, got poor grades, hated my math classes, and was generally inattentive; but I loved college, breezed through most classes, and discovered that I loved mathematics, so I majored in it, and now I've started a successful company.

My experience is different than most peoples', but the key thing is that people have a _choice_ and can find out what works for them. The more we try to fit people into algorithms, and top-down control, the less they can go find out what they are happy doing and how they want to do it. Control, coercion, surveillance and manipulation tend to choke out the beauty of life.